Drivers and owners of more than 200 commercial vehicles stranded at the Taftan border with Iran for two months have appealed to the government to let them leave, saying security restrictions imposed following attacks on commercial traffic have caused severe hardship.
“Let us leave. We will not return,” several drivers said, adding that they would no longer use the Taftan route if permitted to continue their journeys.
The stranded vehicles include LPG tankers carrying supplies from Iran to Punjab and other cities in Pakistan.
The Balochistan government has held the vehicles at the border on the instructions of Pakistani military authorities while arrangements are made to move commercial traffic in protected convoys along the Quetta-Taftan highway, according to sources.
The convoy system was introduced following repeated attacks by Baloch armed groups on commercial vehicles using the route.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) announced what it described as an “economic blockade” on Balochistan’s major highways earlier this year. Since then, hundreds of vehicles carrying minerals, gas, LPG and other commercial goods have been stopped, seized or attacked along the highways.
The disruption of LPG and gas transportation through Balochistan has contributed to shortages and reduced supplies in Punjab.
The drivers called for the vehicles to be released immediately, saying they were no longer willing to remain at the border while waiting for a convoy.
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